Temporal relationship between the age of onset of phobic disorders and development of substance dependence in adolescent psychiatric patients

Abstract

Aims: To investigate the age of onset of phobic disorders in relation to later development of substance dependence in a sample of adolescent psychiatric patients. Design, setting and participants: Clinical sample of 238 adolescents (age 12–17) admitted to psychiatric inpatient hospitalization between April 2001 and July 2003. Measurements: Psychiatric diagnoses and onset ages obtained from the schedule for affective disorders and schizophrenia for school aged children-present and lifetime (K-SADS-PL). Findings: Logistic regression analyses revealed that adolescents with phobic disorders had a 4.9-fold risk for comorbid substance dependence compared to those without phobia. The mean onset age was 11.4 and 14.4 years for phobias and comorbid substance dependence, respectively. Boys (13.7 years) had a statistically significantly lower onset age for substance dependence than girls (15.4 years). Over one-half of the adolescents with phobic disorders had developed substance dependence within three years after the onset of phobia. Conclusions: We found that phobias might influence the development of secondary substance dependence within a few years from the onset of phobia already in adolescence.